Folding tea cart



April 24, 1934. WAGNER 1,956,261

FOLDING TEA CART Filed 001',- 5, 1932 ,/n we nf'ar- Jinarea) Fryn er ./3WM, 2 34 WM;

Patented Apr. 24, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT? OFFICE FOLDING TEA CARTporation of Illinois Application October 5,

5 Claims.

My invention relates to folding tea carts or tray carriages of the typedisclosed in the patent application of Paul A. Rothe, Serial No.548,377, filed July 2, 1931.

Among the objects of my invention are:

Locking means for holding the device against accidental collapsingespecially when it is being pushed by the upper corner of the frame andthe wheels strike an obstruction, the locking mechanism preferably beingreleasable by the operators foot; provision for so collapsing the devicethat it can be stood on edge for convenient storage or carrying; and anadjustable handle which can be swung out of interference with the use ofthe upper tray when desired and which is so disposed as to permitconvenient carrying when the device is folded without tendency of thedevice to open itself.

The foregoing and further objects, features and advantages of myinvention are set forth in the following description of a specificembodiment thereof wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawingwherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a tea cart;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof when in folded position and set onedge for convenient storage or carrying;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical longitudinal section of the latch orlocking mechanism taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

The tray carriage here shown comprises a set or series of threeframe-like supports for traysa top support 10, an intermediate support11 and a bottom support 12for the respective trays 10, 11 and 12. Eachsupport comprises a pair of side members or rails 13 and forward andrear cross rails 14. The inner or opposed faces of the side rails carrygrooves 16 for the reception of the edges of the trays. Starting at thebottom, the trays and their supports are of successively less breadthand length. The tray supports are supported and interconnected at eachside by forward and rearward stays 17 and 18 which pass along theoutsides of the side rails 13 and are pivotally connected theretopreferably by dowel-like rods 19 extending the width of the traysupports just above the respective cross rails 14 and into the adjacentedges of the stays. By this pivotal interconnection of the parallel traysupports by the parallel stays, swinging of the stays will cause thetrays to move together or apart in parallelism 1932, Serial No. 636,260

between the open position of Figs. 1 and 2 and the closed position ofFig. 3.

The cross rail 14 and the auxiliary cross rail 15 of the bottom traysupport 12 preferably carry caster wheels 20 whereby the device may bepushed about the floor in the manner characteristic of tea trays. Forpushing or pulling the device, a handle 21 spans the rearward ends ofthe side rails of the top tray support 10. The handle 21 is pivotallymounted, with its grip portion radially offset from the pivot, and canbe swung from its oblique position of Fig. 2 where it abuts the beveledend of the top side rails to the alternate position of Fig. 3.

The parallelogrammatic frame constituted by the tray supports and thestays is preferably arranged so that in its normal open position thestays are swung somewhat rearwardly of vertical or dead center position.When in this position, the lower regions of the rearward stays 18 lie infiat-wise engagement with the somewhat obliquely disposed forward facesof abutment arms 22 which are rigidly secured at the outer sides of, andadjacent the rearward ends of, the side rails 13 of the bottom traysupport 12. The weight of the tray supports, tray and contents thus tendto hold the rearward stays against the abutment arms when in normal openposition.

When the operator pushes the tray by the handle or either of the uppertray supports, there would be a tendency to swing the frame over itsdead center and accidentally collapse it should the caster wheelsencounter any undue resistance such as the upturned edge of a carpet ora table leg, baseboard or the like. To overcome this objection I haveprovided means for locking the frame in its open position. This lookingor latching mechanism comprises a metal strap or bar 23 extendingcrosswise of the device between the abutment arms 22 and havingforwardly bent latch portions 24 extending through slots 25' in theabutment arms 22 and extending forwardly therebeyond where they areprofiled as latch hooks 26. Each latch hook portion 26 extends into aregistering slot cut into but not through the associated rearward stay18 from its rearward face and hook-wise engages a pin 28 which extendsacross the slot. Each latch portion 24 is pivotally mounted in itsassociated abutment 'arm 22 by a pin 29 extending across the slot 25.The latch bar 23, thus pivotally mounted, is urged to its latchingposition by a spring 30. To release the latching mechanism, the operatorhas but to conveniently place his foot on the latch bar 23 and rock itagainst the light pressure of the spring to disengage the latch hooks 26from the latching pins 28, whereupon a forward push on the handle willcollapse the frame. Should the several pivot points on the frame tend tobind, the operator is in a favorable position to force the collapsing ofthe frame in an orderly manner because his foot, by its engagement withthe latch bar 23, is holding the rearward end of the bottom tray support12 down and against forward movement. It will be observed that when thedevice is opened up in its normal position, the latch engaging portionsand the slots of the latching mechanism are all concealed, save therearward opening of the slots 25 through which the latch bar ends pass.

As the operator collapses the devicewith one hand still on the handleand the foot still resting lightly on the latch bar 23, he swings thehandle downwardly about its pivot which brings the grip adjacent theforward cross rail 14 of the intermediate tray support 11. The operatoris then conveniently enabled. to engage that cross rail also, graspingthe handle and cross rail together. Using his foot engagement on thelatch bar as an abutment against rearward movement, and using the rearwheels as a fulcrum, the operator pulls up on the cross rail and handlewhich he is grasping, until the collapsed frame is brought up to thevertical position of Fig. 3 where it rests in well balanced position onthe rearward faces of the abutment arms 22 and the rear caster wheels.The 0 erators hand grip on both the handle and said cross rail forms aconvenient means of carrying the collapsed device, at least theintermediate tray having been removed. With this hold, the device cannotaccidentally open, because that would involve the handle moving awayfrom the said cross rail, which the operators hold would prevent.Because the collapsible device will stand on edge, as shown in Fig. 3,it may readily be stored in that position in a closet or other locationwhere floor space is at a premium.

While I have thus described this specific embodiment of my invention, Icontemplate that many changes may be made therefrom without departingfrom the scope or spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A collapsible tray carriage comprising a plurality of normallysuperposed horizontal tray supports and a pair of supporting stays oneach side thereof and pivotally connected thereto, whereby the carriagecollapses parallelogrammatically, a pair of abutment arms fixed on thelowermost tray support and extending transversely thereof havingobliquely disposed forward faces for engaging the rearward faces ofadjacent stays when the carriage is in its open position and the staysare swung somewhat backwardly of the vertical, and means for releasablylocking the stays against the arms, the rearward faces of the abutmentarm constituting a supporting foot for pivotally supporting the caririage when collapsed.

2. A tray carriage comprising a plurality of vertically spacedsuperposed horizontal frames some of which are adapted to carry trays, apair of parallel stays disposed on each lateral side of the frames andpivotally interconnected therewith to collapse the frames inparallelism, a pair of arms extending upwardly from the lowermost frameat its rearward edge constituting a foot for vertically supporting thecarriage when in its collapsed position and constituting a stop for therearward stays when the carriage is in its open position and a latch forlatching one of the rearward stays to one of the arms.

3. A tray carriage comprising a plurality of vertically spacedsuperposed horizontal frames some of which are adapted to carry trays, apair of parallel stays disposed on each lateral side of the frames andpivotally interconnected therewith to collapse the frames inparallelism, a pair of arms extending upwardly from the lowermost frameat its rearward edge, the forward faces of the arms constituting aflatwise abutment for the rearward faces .of the rear stays, slotspassing forwardly through the arms and registering slots extendingforwardly into the adjacent faces of the stays, a latch membervertically mounted within each arm slot and having a hook portionextending into the stay slot, a pin in each stay slot for engagement bythe hook, and a transverse foot bar extending between the rearwardlyprotruding ends of the latch members for rocking them about their pivotsto unlatch the stays from the arms to permit collapsing of the carriage.

l. A tray carriage comprising a plurality of vertically spacedsuperposed horizontal frames 6 some of which are adapted to carry trays,a pair of parallel stays disposed on each lateral side of the frames andpivotally interconnected therewith to collapse the frames inparallelism, a pair of arms extending upwardly from the lowermost frameat its rearward edge constituting stops for the rearward stays when thecarriage is in its open position, a latch member pivotally mounted oneach arm and having a forwardly extending latch hook, a cooperating pinon each stay for en agement by the hook, and a foot bar interconnectingthe latch members for releasing them to permit collapsing of thecarriage.

5. A portable tray carriage comprising three horizontal verticallyspaced frames adapted to receive and support trays, floor wheels on thelowermost frame, two of the wheels being disposed at the rearward end ofthe lowermost frame adjacent its respective sides, a pair of spacedparallel stays on each side of the frames and pivotally connected to theframes for parallelogrammatically collapsing the frames and stays, thestays, when the carriage is in its open position, inclining rearwardlyof the perpendicular and folding to collapsed position forwardly throughand past the perpendicular, an arm carried by the lowermost frame forlimiting the backward swinging of the stays when the tray lock to permitthe collapsing of the carriage and continued pressure on the foot willtend to swing

